Beijing yesterday accused the US of hurting its credibility by acting erratically on trade and vowed to fight back if Washington goes ahead with a threatened tariff hike.
The US’ decision to renew a threat to raise duties on a US$50 billion list of Chinese goods conflicts with an agreement earlier this month aimed at settling that dispute, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) said.
US Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin said then the conflict was “on hold” after Beijing promised to buy more US goods to help narrow its multibillion-dollar trade surplus with the US.
Photo: EPA
Hua declined to say whether Tuesday’s announcement might disrupt plans for US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross to visit Beijing on Saturday for more talks.
The Chinese Ministry of Commerce did not immediately respond to questions about the status of the meeting.
Hua gave no indication whether Beijing planned to act on its threat to retaliate by raising duties on a US$50 billion list of US goods, including beef and soybeans.
“Every flip-flop and U-turn of a country will be simply depleting and squandering its own credibility,” Hua said at a regular news conference.
“We do not want a trade war, but we are not afraid of one. We will fight back,” she said. “We will definitely take forceful measures to defend our legitimate interests.”
The White House on Tuesday announced that it would also impose curbs on Chinese investment and purchases of high-tech products.
Asian financial markets tumbled on renewed worries about a US-Chinese trade spat.
China’s main market index fell 2.5 percent and Japan’s benchmark lost 1.5 percent.
The White House’s latest tariff action focuses on advanced technologies, such as robots and electric cars that China has said it wants to develop under its “Made in China 2025” program.
The White House said a list of products would be announced on June 15.
US President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement reflects his frustration at criticism of his earlier deal with Beijing, Eurasia Group analysts said in a report.
He appears less concerned that he needs Chinese support for his proposed meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, they said.
“Trump is going on [the] offense, reverting to his earlier instincts on China and re-empowering the trade hawks in his Cabinet,” the analysts said. “This dynamic makes it likely that both tariffs and investment restrictions will go into effect.”
US analysts suggested that the newly confrontational stance might also be aimed at appeasing congressional critics of a deal the Trump administration made on Friday last week that allowed Chinese telecom ZTE Corp to stay in business.
ZTE agreed to remove its management team, hire US compliance officers and pay a fine.
That would be on top of a US$1 billion penalty ZTE paid for selling high-tech equipment to North Korea and Iran, a contravention of US sanctions.
In return, the US Department of Commerce lifted a seven-year ban on ZTE’s purchase of US components that it imposed earlier this month.
Trump last month said that the ban threatened too many Chinese jobs and he wanted to get the company back in business.
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